I got in!

[Hellzar]

Sorry if this is in the wrong place but I am excited and want to tell as many people as I can. Yesterday I got an acceptance email from the University of Southern Mississippi for the M.A Anthropology program. It is a conditional acceptance probably because I had some trouble with the GRE , it means that I have to get a B or A in all my classes for the first semester but I was planning on doing that anyway. I am so revealed but now all I can think about all the stuff I have to do now to get ready.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

You can totally manage B's and A's for your Fresshie classes! Take care of yourself tho, get sleep before parties and drink as much water as alcohol!
relieved, rather than revealed?

[Hellzar]

Yes yes I did.

I have been looking at the syllabi that are up for some of the classes and I am trying not to freak out. I did take a graduate class during my under graduate days and I got a B in that so I know it is possible.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

so what area of anthro are you wanting? or are you going to be a generalist?
and what graduate class did you get into? o_O'

[Hellzar]

I am interested in mainly in physical anthropology or anything to do with osteology although I do like to stay informed in the other areas of anthropology
I took a Museum Studies class that my advisor was teaching she let me in because she thought I could handle it and it would look good on my transcript.

[Sapphire Silk]

I am interested in mainly in physical anthropology or anything to do with osteology although I do like to stay informed in the other areas of anthropology
I took a Museum Studies class that my advisor was teaching she let me in because she thought I could handle it and it would look good on my transcript.

It probably did look good on your transcript.

Don't freak out too much about the GRE and the conditional acceptance. I got one for my History master's too. It's a sign of a good program . . . they want students to take it seriously and finish.

You will probably need to maintain a 3.0 average with a limit on the number of Cs and no Ds to stay in the program.

I actually found grad school to be more fun than under grad because now I was getting into the nitty gritty of what I was really interested in, so even though it was more "work", it was actually easier than slugging through the courses I didn't give a whit about but had to take.

[AdminAssistant]

Welcome to graduate school! We'll need you to leave your social life, healthy relationships, free time, hobbies, and sanity here by the door. You can get them back upon graduation. Just kidding. (kind of.) Do you have any funding (GRA or GTA)?

[teh_blumchenkinder]

Fancy! what do you want to do with physical/osteology? First thing that came to mind was "forensic policework," but that's because I listen to pop culture too much.
Museum studies? like... how to keep stuff in storage and how to display? Inter-esting... but I'm also interested in Library Science, so

[Kheldarson]

Welcome to graduate school! We'll need you to leave your social life, healthy relationships, free time, hobbies, and sanity here by the door. You can get them back upon graduation. Just kidding. (kind of.) Do you have any funding (GRA or GTA)?

Hey, what's the GRA and GTA? (trying to find ways to pay for my own upcoming grad school experience)



And Hellzar, congrats! I'm sure you'll enjoy

[AdminAssistant]

GRA = Graduate Research Assistantship. This usually involves being a professor's lackey/whipping boy. Usually, you assist a faculty member with whatever research they're doing. Responsibilities vary depending on field of study. (I had a GRA where I was the assistant to their admin assistant, thus my username.)

GTA = Graduate Teaching Assistantship. You assist a professor with the teaching of a class. That may mean teaching the occasional lecture, leading discussion sections, playing hall monitor, taking attendance, and (most importantly) grading.

These are not, by any means, the only sources of funding. There are also scholarships, fellowships, grants*, etc. depending on institution or field of study. My school offers something called FLAS, where you get paid to learn a language.** What you want to look for are sources of funding that come with tuition waivers - those are the best. Many schools (such as mine) tend to give priority to Ph.D.s instead of Master's students, so be aware of that. The good thing is that the MA usually only takes 2-3 years.

*From private institutions. Graduate students do not qualify for Federal Pell Grants.

**Except Western European languages. They're looking for things like Russian, Chinese, Arabic, Farsi, etc. Also, you have to have a stated purpose for learning the language beyond, "Because I always thought it would be cool."

[Kheldarson]

Bah. So I'm still looking at loans for this master's.


(School is a very small one that just started it's master's program in the past five years. So not a lot of options)

[AdminAssistant]

Well, you never know. Definitely ask around. Does your school have a Department of Graduate Studies or something similar? That may be a go-to place to ask these kinds of questions. If not, then try your Financial Aid office or equivalent.

[Seshat]

Take advantage of any offered study skills courses, extra tutorials, any other study assistance. Ask questions. Get to know the librarians. Pick the brains of other students, and of your teachers.

Knuckle down, remembering that you're not on your own, and you should be fine.

[AdminAssistant]

Get to know the librarians.

This! Thisthisthisthis. Also, get very familiar with the library system, any online databases, etc. If your school is big enough, there will probably be a specialized librarian for your area of study. They can be a great resource for finding....resources. There may be a "this is how you use the library" tutorial at the beginning of the semester. If you're at a small institution, chances are they have an ILL relationship set up with a larger institution.

Make friends, both within and outside of your department. Your social life will take a nosedive, but nothing beats sitting at the bar with fellow grad students and trading horror stories.

The administrative assistant of your department controls your very existence. Be nice to this person. Bring them cookies. If they like you, your life will be soooo much easier.

What is required to graduate - comps or thesis? If it's a thesis, then you'll want to find out early what the specific requirements are - which citation style to use, page length requirements, do you submit electronically, etc. If you have to use Chicago for your thesis, start using it now to get familiar with it. By the end of my master's thesis, I could cite in Turabian from memory.

If it's comps, find out if there's a generic reading list or if you compile one. And start reading, the end will be upon you before you know it.

[Hellzar]

Fancy! what do you want to do with physical/osteology? First thing that came to mind was "forensic policework," but that's because I listen to pop culture too much.

I am interested forensics mostly trauma analysis and taphonomy but I have recently begun studying burial patterns of prehistoric native americans which involves both trauma analysis and taphonomy. As for what I want to do I change my mind. Sometimes I want to work in forensics and then other times I would like to work in CRM or archeological research.